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Author: James Mernagh

Ly Da Buddah and Mystic Dan are back to bless us again with more industrial-grade junglist drum & bass, and as ever it is available as a free download on their Real Vibes imprint.

With a free release planned every month until December this year, it’s not exactly a surprise that ‘Rollin’ can be grabbed straight from Soundcloud but it is always a treat to get something for free that is so good you would have paid for it

‘Rollin’ kicks with a sliding bassline thrown over the top of frantic breaks, with a couple of jungle-style verses spat for good measure.

Listen below, and pick up the free download from the Real Vibes Soundcloud page.

Silent Dust must have entered the new year with huge grins on their faces, not because they were particularly enjoying Jools Holland but because they knew what they had in the works for their first release of 2018 on their imprint none60 – the label debut of The Corpus, with a Sinistarr remix thrown in for good measure.

A Lithuanian collective of producers, The Corpus announced their arrival with ‘Cult X’, a bare-bones half-time stomper which growls into life with some madcap digital sounds.

Sinistarr returns to none60 for the remix, which is typically leftfield – starting out with a harshly-clipped bassline before opening out into a propulsive, melodic take on the Lithuanian original.

Free Love Digi ushers in another mind-expanding talent in the form of Dutch mastermind Nuaru, whose Like In A Dream EP is his first for Quentin Hiatus’ inimitable label.

A gentle, lush intro ushers in the title track, which expands into a widescreen half-time roller with definite liquid tendencies. Second track ‘She Blends In With The Ocean’ keeps the focus wide open but toughens things up a bit with a laser-beam bassline and ever-increasing atmospherics.

Nuaru played his first show back in 2014 at the Amsterdam Dance Event, going on to sign to Basserk Records. He has also seen his tracks put out on other labels, appearing on compilations alongside the likes of Deon Custom, Arts the Beatdoctor and Pete Philly.

A storming free download marks the entrance of new label Real Vibes onto the drum & bass scene, peddling a heady blend of jungle and jump-up.

‘High Peak’ comes from label founders Ly Da Buddah and Mystic Dan, who have each been in the game for over 20 years, and they have used all that experience to unleash a straight-up bruiser. Jungle-scented jump-up is the order of the day, ragga-style vocals bringing some island flavour while a no-frills beat and gritty bassline provide the weight.

The label aims to release a free download a month from now until December 2018, so stay tuned.

Listen below, and grab the free download through the Real Vibes Soundcloud page.

Moby goes drum & bass as three European producers remix two of the tracks from his Void Pacific Choir project.

The Void Pacific Choir came into being in 2016 as an outlet for Moby’s love of 80s punk and new wave, and now a pair of songs from this year’s record More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse have been given more than a little tweak for the fittingly-named More Fast Remixes About the Apocalypse.

Hybris, from the Czech Republic, flips ‘All The Hurts We Made’ into a dizzying techy monster, chopping the original into and between intricate percussion and precise glitches. Next up is NickBee’s remix of ‘It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye’, on which the Ukrainian producer hones in on the strings from the original and splices them into a menacing eddy of drum rolls and bass swells.

The consistently brilliant none60 has been panning for gold and turned up Sheffield producer Wagz, who has just dropped his debut on Silent Dust’s label.

‘Exile’ and ‘Zodiac’ find the producer combining huge, rolling basses with skilfully-managed atmospherics and considered percussion to create two warm liquid rollers which hint that maybe less is more – there are no unnecessary sweeps and multi-layered synths cluttering things up here.

The sonic equivalent of the heat from a rocket launcher, RAE’s debut EP mashes Jamaican clash culture with old-school UK drum & bass to add a distinctive flavour to a powerful, modern sound.

Pristine production keeps things razor-sharp, but Kingston Bass is constantly looking West to the Caribbean or back in time to 90s d&b raves. It all comes together nicely in the shape of four almighty tracks – Good Body Gal’, ‘Mad Ting’, ‘Hands Up’ and ‘Fireface’ – each with its own cataclysmic bassline.

Kingston Bass is out now on London-based label Audio Danger Records. Listen below or head to www.audiodanger.co.uk to buy.

Following the 2015 re-issue of Seba’s album Return to Forever, two of the veteran producer’s biggest tracks are now being offered on a remix single.

Om Unit and Digital are the chosen producers, and it is their razor-sharp remix work which takes ‘External Reality’ and ‘Day by Night’ into a new dimension. Om Unit tackles ‘External Reality’, gently taking some of the grit away and replacing it with lush synth atmospherics instead. On the flip, Digital gets tough with ‘Day by Night’, upping the ante of the original bass sound and getting busy with some breakbeats for good measure.

The remix single comes two years after the re-issue of Seba’s album Return to Forever. Listen below, or head to www.secretoperations.com to buy.

Thomas B takes the sub-bass seriously on his new record, the Augmented Place EP.

Elements of trip-hop collide with the half-time drum & bass for which the Arizona producer is known for four low-strung tracks of bare rhythms and dreamscape bass sounds. ‘Straat’ gets a little bit wonky and ‘Augmented Place’ bounces harder thanks to its breakbeat engine, but overall the record is an exercise in bass-led meditation.

Marrying power and precision in a way only German car makers usually can, French duo Kantyze set everything to stun on Mutation.

Debuting with a nine-track LP on Quentin Hiatus’ notoriously forward-looking label Free Love Digi is a statement in itself, and from the urgent sonics of opener ‘Has It Ever Occurred’ to the straight-up half time of crumpled closer ‘The Bonus Song’ the view remains widescreen throughout.

Kantyze is the brainchild of producers Feubo and Knockoutz, who between them cite music as varied as US hip-hop, Swedish metal and jungle as influences. And this madly diverse playlist has given rise to an equally diverse record, on which twisted synths are made to fit into symphonic shapes where they really have no right to be.